The clear florals and bright and sweet currant notes lead to an excellent representation of the Ethiopian profile.

Washed Heirloom

Chelbesa

Chelbesa is produced by METAD, a family-run business driven by three brothers, Michael, Aman and Tariku Adinew. They own several mills in the Oromia region, including in some of the most iconic Ethiopian coffee towns, like Yirgacheffe. METAD encourage and provide training in environmentally sustainable farming practices; many of their coffees are certified organic. This lot comes from one of METAD’s largest washing stations in the Gedeb region, at Halo Beriti. METAD have a very in depth and precise system of traceability, making sure that coffee delivered from different towns and on different days is kept separate throughout the process. Therefore, we know that this lot comes from farmers around the village of Chelbesa, and that it is grown between 2100 and 2300 masl.

Ethiopia’s mode of growing, with a high level of biodiversity, healthy fertile soils, and excellent climatic conditions lead to some of the highest quality raw material we find anywhere in the coffee belt. This means very little influence from process on the final cup is required, which this very clean washed lot illustrates perfectly. In the cup, this leads to a highly concentrated sweetness and bright currant notes, while maintaining the floral character that we so enjoy in Ethiopian coffees.

Semi-wild coffee forest

In Ethiopia, coffee still grows semi-wild, and in some cases completely wild. Apart from some regions of neighbouring South Sudan, Ethiopia is the only country in which coffee is found growing in this way, due to its status as the genetic birthplace of arabica coffee. This means in many regions, small producers still harvest cherries from wild coffee trees growing in high altitude humid forests, especially around Ethiopia’s famous Great Rift Valley.